D'Artagnan
by The Girl from Shangri-La
Summary: A young Sulu in San Francisco.


The shuttle bus rocked back and forth on a hover mechanism that was way too old to still be in use. The crowd was packed in tightly, and the air circulation unit had automatically activated. Unfortunately, one of the fans was malfunctioning. It was the one directly over a fourteen-year-old boy who didn't mind sitting in the sweltering heat. His mind was elsewhere - on the roads of old France, with a man named D'Artagnan who was destined to become a musketeer. The shuttle gave an enormous jolt from side to side as it pulled up to the next stop.

"Academy Road, 2700 block." The automated voice announced and a chime sounded twice.

The boy stood up and slipped the e-book in his leather school bag. He stepped out into the bright San Francisco sunlight with about half a dozen of the other passengers. The air was clear and clean around the Academy, thanks to the filters that had been installed to reduce pollution in the area. It had been done to better accommodate off-world students. The locals didn't mind much either.

The 2700 block stop let out onto a quiet bit of sidewalk that curled around the sides of a grassy hill. There was a sleek white bench with an all-weather computer station next to it. The station kept records of when the automated shuttles departed, any traffic diversions, malfunctioning stops and so on. The kid walked up to the panel and programmed in a request for the evening schedule. The absolute latest shuttle that could take him home would arrive at midnight. He did himself a favour and remembered that. A few nights ago, he'd had to walk clear across the city when he'd gotten too caught up in his experiments. His mother had called Civilian Patrol.

"Hey! Hikaru!" A girl's voice called cheerfully from across the street. It was Billie Berenot. She was a year ahead of Hikaru Sulu in school, but he knew her from his science class. He'd been skipped a grade. Billie was gorgeous. She was dating the parrises squares champion. She had pretty clothes and stood in the hallway with other gorgeous girls in pretty clothes. When the hell had she taken the time to learn Sulu's name?

Billie checked quickly for cars and dashed over to the shuttle stop.

"Um…" Sulu began, rather eloquently.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked, looking at the tattered leather bag slung over his shoulder. She smelled like watermelon chapstick.

"I'm taking a summer program. Botany. Y'know. Over at the Archer Center." Sulu swallowed hard, trying his best to be nonchalant. For some reason, he was nodding like a bobble-head.

"Wow! You're such a brainiac!" Billie laughed. Sulu couldn't tell if it was a good comment or a bad comment. He wished he could be as dashing and adventurous as the heroes of his favourite books. That he could say something charming, and sweep her off her feet. If only fencing was as cool as parrises squares…

"I'm doing my CSEP hours down at the staff kitchens." The Career Selection and Evaluation Program was mandatory. Everyone had to devote at least eighty hours to experiencing the career paths they might find interesting. Sulu was looking forward to the opportunity, even though all he had heard about the program had been complaints. He figured it might not be much fun if you wanted to spend your summer doing nothing.

"Do you cook or something?" He asked her with a smile.

"Me? God no. I've almost poisoned two admirals. But my sister told me it was the easiest way to get your hours," Billie rolled her eyes and shrugged, "Hey, do you need to get to your class right away?"

"Well, I always like to arrive a little early so that I can set up my station while it's quiet. And I get first pick of the airponic maintenance readers." Sulu laughed softly at his own joke, but stopped when he noticed Billie's slightly incredulous expression. "I don't have to be there for a half hour."

"Great! Let's hang out!" The pretty girl said with a bright enthusiasm and headed back across the street. Sulu just stood there. His brain seemed to have stopped.

"Hey! Are you coming, or what?" Billie called to him with a musical laugh as she walked backwards down the other side of the street.

"Sure!" Sulu answered with a lopsided grin. He looked over his shoulder at the path that led to the Archer Center. Being on time instead of early wasn't illegal. Most people did it. Quickly, he half-ran to catch up with her.

He didn't really pay attention to where they were going. Billie was talking about music and parties and funny stories and popular kids, and Sulu was listening. They walked down a more industrial set of streets; past one of the Academy coffee shops, where cadets were lounging in their read uniforms at outdoor tables. The voices were happy and easy-going. Glasses clinked and shuffled and laughter and the smell of fresh baked biscotti filled the air. Sulu wondered if they'd be stopping there, but Billie walked right past it. She turned down a small alley that wound behind the café and led to a tall building that seemed to be made entirely of mirrored glass.

"Where are we?" Sulu asked, as she walked right up to the automatic doors. They didn't open, a fact that surprised him.

"The Staff building." Billie said as though he were stupid. She pulled an access pass out of her pocket and slid it through the control panel. The doors opened and she grabbed Sulu's wrist and pulled him inside.

"What are we…?" Sulu began, but she cut him off sharply.

"Shut-up! Do you want to get me in trouble?!" She whispered sharply and dragged him through the main foyer into a series of back corridors.

The staff building was cool and refreshing after the sweltering heat of the August sun, and the corridors had a sparkling neatness about them. Even though Sulu could tell that they were for the lower-downs. There was a slightly industrial feeling to them, but it wasn't necessarily unpleasant.

Billie marched forward and entered an access code into a panel by a heavy door with two porthole windows. It opened with a slight stutter.

"You'd think Starfleet could have something like that fixed," She complained, "Come on."

"What are we doing?" Sulu asked, looking around. They had walked into the kitchen, an enormous room full of gleaming countertops and high-end refrigeration units.

"Here." Billie said, pulling a translucent bucket of round, rusty red vegetables out of a low drawer. She plunked it down on the counter in front of Sulu.

"I don't understand…" He confessed awkwardly, frowning with confusion.

"It's easy. They're Vulcan onions. You peel the top two layers off and slice them into rings." Billie explained exasperatedly and pulled a laser-knife out of a drawer, she handed it to him. Sulu noticed a distinct change in her demeanour. She didn't seem chatty and pleasant anymore. Now she seemed, well, pretty bitchy.

"Um. I guess I can help with a few…" Sulu didn't know what to say, or really what to do. He put down his bag, took off his jacket and began to peel the first onion.

Around four onions in, he really started to notice that Billie wasn't helping. And by the seventh onion, she was talking over the kitchen's communicator system with Kyp. The Boyfriend. They were joking and laughing about stupid things, and making accusations about their friends. Or at least, people that Sulu had always presumed to be their friends. What with all of the time they spent together. Finally, all of the onions were sliced.

"I'm done." Sulu announced, embarrassment and frustration building up inside of him. He should have told her he wasn't going to do it. That she could slice her own onions. He should have walked out when she called Kyp. He shouldn't have gone with her in the first place.

He felt really, really stupid.

"Just a second," Billie said to Kyp, looking supremely annoyed. She turned to Sulu, "If you're done, then leave. I thought you were smart." She scoffed at him.

Sulu felt his face get hot, and he clenched his fists at his side. But there was nothing he could think of to say to her. He grabbed his bag and his jacket and stomped out of the kitchens into the corridors. As the doors closed behind him, he could hear Billie and Kyp laughing.

For awhile he walked with his head down, going in the direction he thought he remembered the main foyer to be in. But when he looked up, he realized that he was completely lost. Sulu looked around a few times, trying to see if he could see anything familiar. A corridor on the left seemed to ring some bells, so he turned down it. After a few feet, a pair of automatic doors closed behind him. He spun to face it, and tried to activate it. It wouldn't open. He noticed that the panel had a slot for a pass-card.

"Terrific!" He sighed to himself. There were no options but to keep going down this corridor. Maybe he'd run into someone who could give him directions. He pulled a bicorder out of his bag and checked the time. Even if he left for the Archer Center right that minute, there was no way he could make it to class without being at least five minutes late. He shook his head and threw the bicorder back into his bag.

He walked somewhat tentatively down the corridor, and noticed that all of the doors required passes. Until he came to one on the right hand side that didn't. Tentatively, he stepped towards it and it opened. Sulu walked inside and looked around.

It seemed to be an astral cartography room of some kind. The walls were covered with star maps and there was an enormous holographic projection displayed. It looked to be of a large ringed planet with three or four moons. The door had opened onto a small balcony that lead down a carpeted ramp into the main area of the room. Sulu could hear voices talking from the lower level.

He walked closer to the thin glass railing of the balcony and looked down. All he could see were empty consoles, but it was obvious that part of the room extended directly under where he was standing. That's were the voices were coming from.

Then, rather unexpectedly, something barked behind him.

It was a little puppy - probably no more than six or seven months old. It had a white face and black and brown patches on its back. A beagle. It barked again, this time louder. It wagged its tail and panted happily with its pink tongue hanging out of its mouth.

"Hi there!" Sulu whispered, kneeling down to pet the puppy. But the puppy proceeded to bark some more. Much louder. Again and again.

"Just a second." A good-natured voice said to someone else down in the lower level, and a man made his way up the ramp. He was old, probably well past a hundred, but he seemed strong and confident. He had deep lines around his mouth and a smile in his eyes. Regardless of the fact that he seemed to be constructed entirely out of friendliness, Sulu froze like a statue when he saw him. He had no idea who he was; but if the uniform was any indication, the old man was an admiral. A highly decorated admiral.

"Looks like you made a new friend, Aramis." The admiral smiled, talking to the puppy.

"Aramis? Like the musketeer?" Sulu asked brightly, without being able to stop himself.

"Actually, he's Aramis V. Better name for a class M planet than a dog, I know. But I got a little set in my ways," The old man shrugged, "You're not a cadet, are you? You're certainly not a midshipman."

"No, uh, Sir," Sulu cleared his throat and stood up straight, "Um. A pretty girl tricked me into slicing onions, and I got lost. And now I'm late for my advanced botany lessons."

The admiral's face beamed with a crinkly sort of smile. He laughed a rough, throaty laugh that made Sulu feel better about everything. It was different from when Billie had been laughing at him. It was a wise laugh, the kind that worked with the world instead of against it. Sulu couldn't help but smile.

"Well, I've found myself in similar circumstances once or twice," The friendly admiral confessed, "Do they still teach the botany courses in the Archer Center?"

"Yes, Sir." Sulu nodded.

"You don't have to call me Sir, son. You're not in Starfleet," He chuckled and leaned over the railing, there was a certain shakiness to the way his hands grasped on, "Lloyd, I'm stepping out. I'll be back in half an hour. Watch the dog."

"Aye sir!" A voice called back.

The old man began to head over to the door.

"Come on," He nodded at Sulu, "I'll walk you over. I could use the exercise. And I haven't been inside the Archer Center since they dedicated the damn thing to me."


End file.
